“What Food Cocerns Do People in
Lexington Have?” Over the two weekends in October 2008,
15 students in SOC517: Rural Sociology carried out the
survey of shoppers at 5 food retailers who gratiously agreed to
participate in the study, including:

·Good Foods Market & Cafe

·Lexington Farmers Market – Downtown Saturday Market

·Lexington Farmers Market – Southland Dr. Sunday Market

·Wal-Mart Supercenter on Nicholasville Rd.

·Wal-Mart Supercenter on New Circle Dr.

Where Do
People Shop in Lexington? (N=332)

In this survey, we asked four questions:

·Who is concerned about what food-related issues?

·What do Lexington residents believe makes a “good”
food system?

·What do they see as challenges in addressing their
concerns about food?

·What do they suggest as possible solutions for
creating what they consider to be a good food system in Lexington?

In Lexington, Wal-Mart and Kroger are by far popular retail outlets
for grocery shopping. Shoppers seem to shop at specific locations
for specific reasons as shown in the table below. While people shop
at the Lexington Farmers Market and Good Foods for “quality” and
“variety/selection,” Wal-Mart shoppers choose to shop there for
“affordability” and “convenience.” It was not surprising to learn
that Wal-Mart shoppers and Good Foods/Farmers Market shoppers differ
in their food concerns.

Why Do
People Shop at ‘Their’ Store1?

Rank

Farmers

Market

N=81

Good

Foods

N=98

Wal-Mart

North

N=64

Wal-Mart

South

N=89

1

Other 2

(n=37)

Quality

(n=51)

Affordability

(n=36)

Affordability

(n=53)

2

Quality

(n=35)

Variety/Selection

(n=38)

Convenience

(n=30)

Convenience

(n=49)

3

Variety/Selection (n=22)

Convenience

(n=37)

Variety/Selection

(n=17)

Variety/Selection

(n=22)

4

Convenience

(n=22)

Other

(n=23)

Quality

(n=7)

Quality

(n=14)

5

Affordability

(n=21)

Affordability

(n=21)

Other

(n=6)

Service

(n=5)

6

Trust

(n=11)

Trust

(n=16)

Trust

(n=5)

Trust

(n=3)

7

Service

(n=8)

Service

(n=10)

Service

(n=2)

Other

(n=1)

Note: 1. Multiple answers were allowed
by each subject. 2. Many answered “supporting local
farmers/farming/economy” as a reason.

What
Concerns Do People Have? (N=332)

What Is
People’s Greatest Concerns? (By Location)

Rank

Farmers Market

N=81

Good Foods

N=98

Wal-Mart North

N=64

Wal-Mart South

N=89

1

Chemicals

(n=22)

Nutrition & Health

(n=23)

Affordability

(n=18)

Affordability

(n=24)

2

Nutrition & Health

(n=14)

Food Origin

(n=16)

Chemicals

(n=14)

Food Safety

(n=22)

3

Food Origin

(n=10)

Chemicals

(n=14)

Food Safety

(n=14)

Nutrition & Health

(n=20)

4

Food Safety

(n=9)

Affordability

(n=13)

Nutrition & Health

(n=7)

Food Origin

(n=7)

5

Affordability

(n=8)

Food Safety

(n=11)

Other

(n=5)

Chemicals

(n=6)

6

Food Justice

(n=6)

Other

(n=10)

Additives

(n=3)

Additives

(n=6)

7

Additives

(n=5)

Additives

(n=7)

Food Origin

(n=1)

Food Justice

(n=2)

8

Other

(n=4)

Food Justice

(n=4)

Food Justice

(n=1)

Other

(n=1)

When we asked how satisfied they are with U.S. food system, 60
percent responded positively – either somewhat or very satisfied. We
also asked our respondents to list what they consider as “good” and
“bad” aspects of our food system.

For “good” aspects, people listed:

·Abundance

·Availability

·Accessibility

·Affordability

·Convenience

·Variety and selection

·Regulations and quality control

For “bad” aspects, they listed:

·Lack of locally produced food

·Too much (unhealthy) chemicals, unsafe food

·Lack of transparency in food production, distribution,
and regulation

·Lack of food knowledge

Their responses to the question, “What local actions are needed?”,
can be categorized into five categories.

·Greater access to local foods

·Enhanced Farmer’s Market

·Improved education

·Better policy

·Stronger community

Our survey results strongly suggest that many people in
Lexington are very much concerned about a wide range of food issues.
More importantly, regardless of where they shop, many people
in Lexington want to see more local food being sold at grocery
stores and restaurants.